libraries – MindShifthttps://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift
KQED Public Media for Northern CAThu, 17 Aug 2017 18:20:06 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.2KQED Public Media for Northern CAlibraries – MindShiftKQED Public Media for Northern CAMindShiftlibraries – MindShifthttps://u.s.kqed.net/2016/08/25/MindShiftiTunegraphic1400x1400.pnghttps://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift
88007858How Libraries Can Turn Stories Into Maker Projectshttps://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/08/15/how-libraries-can-turn-stories-into-maker-projects/
https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/08/15/how-libraries-can-turn-stories-into-maker-projects/#respondWed, 16 Aug 2017 06:53:50 +0000https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=48764In recent years, libraries have broadened their scope of offerings to the local community to involve more making activities like 3-D printing and sewing. Some libraries even have a facilitator for maker projects.

At Millvale Community Library in Pennsylvania, maker program coordinator Nora Peters saw an opportunity to better connect the activities of the maker space with the library’s mission to promote literacy. So, she set out to build a bridge between making and reading by creating maker activities for children’s books.

Peters creates project instructions that tie into the theme of a children’s book. She prints the instructions on a 5 x 7 sticker that affixes to the front of the book. Because Millvale serves a lower-income community, she also keeps materials low-tech.

Nora Peters developed low-cost maker project instructions based on books (in this example, “Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs”). The instructions come with the book and materials are relevant to the needs of the community. (Courtesy of Nora Peters)

For example, in the book “Wemberly Worried” by Kevin Henkes, Peters developed and attached instructions on how to make a Guatemalan worry doll. The story is about dealing with childhood anxiety, and it is believed that the very act of constructing a worry doll can alleviate anxiety, said Peters.

For the book “I’m New Here” by A. S. O’Brien about the immigrant experience, Peters put instructions to create a “comfort object” to make someone feel welcome in a space. But the instructions were flexible enough that kids could use a variety of materials, from fabric to just cardboard and tape.

Peters said she always tries to elevate the idea of “book-based craft” by finding a way to make each project less cookie-cutter. Projects are meant to be in the hands of the reader, not a facilitator, so they differ from the typical prompts children might find at the end of books. Her goal is “to make a visible connection between the value of hands-on learning and the value of introducing literacy at a young age and how those two can support each other.”

She’s mostly using children’s books, but Peters wants the instructions to work for people of any age. To make sure pre-teens are not put off by using children’s books, Peters was careful with her language. For instance, instead of printing “go ask your parents,” instructions state, “find these materials.”

In the past couple of months, Peters has completed 15 of these book-based maker projects and has received positive feedback from parents and patrons. As she has taken the idea around to teacher conferences, including the annual Maker Ed Convening, she was surprised to find that many teachers had never heard of such a project.

Libraries with a limited budget can feel left behind because the maker movement usually centers on newer technologies, but librarians have been doing this work all along, said Cindy Wall, a librarian at Southington Library in Connecticut, where maker projects start with reading.

For instance, for preschool-age students, a program called “You’ve Got Mail” ties into the book “Please Write Back,” about an alligator who writes to his grandmother. Kids receive postcards to decorate, and mail out. Wall’s husband, a postal worker, visits to answer questions and collect the postcards.

In another program, elementary school students make abstract art that they then compare to machine-made art. The students start by reading a book about abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky. The library uses a machine called the “water color bot” to make abstract art, and then the children compare their art to what the machine produces.

Even if libraries can’t afford high-tech toys, “You can still create maker programming with whatever you have,” said Wall.

Echoing what Wall has found, Peters said teachers and librarians do these projects in some form all the time, but they can also use a maker activity as an opportunity to enhance comprehension and build literacy skills. It’s empowering to pull something deeper from a seemingly simple book, she added.

By the end of summer, Peters is hoping to expand their collection of maker books to some young adults and to even put some simple instructions in adult nonfiction to show how to use an adult how-to manual with kids.

]]>https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/08/15/how-libraries-can-turn-stories-into-maker-projects/feed/048764Peters-1Nora Peters developed low-cost maker project instructions based on books (in this example, "Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs"). The instructions come with the book and materials are relevant to the needs of the community.SouthingtonA watercolor bot creates abstract art at Southington Library.20 Books Featuring Diverse Characters to Inspire Connection and Empathyhttps://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/06/20/20-books-featuring-diverse-characters-to-inspire-connection-and-empathy/
https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/06/20/20-books-featuring-diverse-characters-to-inspire-connection-and-empathy/#commentsMon, 20 Jun 2016 08:06:11 +0000http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=45121Librarians often talk about stocking the shelves with books that offer both mirrors and windows for children. When one child picks up a book, he might see a character who looks like him and experiences life the way he does, but another child reading the same book could experience the story as a window into a new culture or life experience. The goal is for all children to read books that provide both mirrors and windows so they subconsciously build an image of who and what they could be, while building empathy and understanding for the lives of others.

Unfortunately in the children’s book world, there are far too few stories featuring diverse characters. “Diverse books are a tiny slice of what’s published,” said Elizabeth Perez, a children’s librarian at the San Francisco Public Library. “They’ve made some strides, but considering the diversity of the US, it’s still very small.”

Perez says many children won’t notice the ethnicity of a character, until they do. When books feature children of color and diverse families, “it’s subconsciously broadening their horizons of what they can do and be,” Perez said. Public librarians understand that many schools have small budgets to buy new titles, so they try to make their public offerings as rich with diverse titles as possible. Some books focus on diversity and culture as central themes, but others merely feature characters of color doing the same exploring, playing and adventuring as any other children’s book character.

“We want to make sure all the children and families in our diverse community can see themselves reflected in the books they borrow from the library,” said Lyn Davidson, program manager for the main San Francisco Public Library’s Children’s Center. “We also want to offer everyone in our community the chance to broaden and deepen their ability to empathize and identify with people from backgrounds very different from their own.”

This picture book for young children shows lots of different types of families hanging out in a park. Young children of different religions and ethnicities are enjoying a day in the park and while they may look different, each child eats, plays, and falls down. “It’s a very simple representation of diversity,” Perez said.

In a riff on the traditional counting book, One Family adds a different family member on each page, showing that families come in many forms and often include far more people than a mother and father. This books is a great way to start talking numbers with young kids, while also reflecting the increasing diversity in family structure kids experience. Perez especially enjoys the illustrations, which she calls “retro” and less cartoony than many books for young kids.

Juna’s Jar is as story of friendship and fantasy. When Juna’s best friend Hector moves away without saying goodbye she is very sad. Her older brother helps her add items to the family’s empty kimchi jar every night and when Juna falls asleep, the items she added come to life in her dreams, helping her search for Hector. Perez says the illustrations are endearing and the kimchi jar is a central image. “It would be normal in a Korean family and it just sort of throws that in there,” Perez said. “It’s about dreams and hope and friendship.”

One Word From Sophia, by Jim Averbeck, illustrated by Yasmeen IsmailGrades: Preschool-3
Ages: 4-8 years

In this silly picture book about a young girl who wants nothing more than a pet giraffe, the author subtly demonstrates people of color in positive roles. The story is ostensibly about Sophia and the “magic word” she needs to use to get her way, but as she travels from one family member to another begging for a giraffe the reader sees an educated family. “It shows positive roles for families,” Perez said. “It represents that families can be different and diverse, but cultured and educated, which is lacking in other books.” She often recommends this book to library patrons with good results.

Last Stop on Market Street, by Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Christian RobinsonGrades: K-2
Ages: 3-5 years

This sweet picture book about a boy traveling across a city with his grandmother on a public bus holds many lessons of compassion. As they ride the bus, the grandmother points out different sites to her grandson and demonstrates kindness to everyone. The reader is lulled into making certain assumptions about the pair that are upset by a twist at the end.

This biography about a Ghanaian boy born with one leg less developed than the other is a testament to determination. Emmanuel works very hard to overcome people’s judgments about him and ends up taking care of his family when his father disappears. He even goes on to become a professional athlete. “It’s very picture story style, but it’s biographical,” Perez said.

I’m New Here, by Anne Sibley O’BrienGrades: K-3
Ages: 5-8 years

This is the story of three newcomer students starting school at the same time. One is from Guatemala, another from Somalia and the third from Korea. In the first weeks at their new school they feel very isolated and confused. They knew the language and how everything worked in their home countries, but at the new school everything is different. Slowly, they begin to connect with classmates in nonverbal ways and make their classroom a new home. “This one could be a perfect window for a child seeing a new student coming in,” Perez said. It could help children empathize with some of their classmates and understand what they might be feeling.

This picture book features a Latina girl whose grandmother has just come to live with the family in the United States. The little girl does not speak Spanish and her grandmother doesn’t speak English, so they struggle to communicate. The girl wants to help cheer up her grandma, who is having a hard time adjusting, so the family gets a parrot to remind the old woman of her island home. The parrot ends up being the go-between for the little girl and her grandmother.

Mama’s Nightingale : A Story of Immigration and Separation, by Edwidge Danticat, illustrations by Leslie StaubGrades 2-5
Ages: 5-8 years

This children’s book by well-known novelist Edwidge Danticat raises some sad and serious issues through story. A little girl is writing letters to her mother who is being held in a detention center. “She uses those letters and notes that she wrote to her mom to convince the judge to let her come home,” Perez said. And, while the subject matter is serious, Perez says often children are much more capable of understanding and empathizing than adults think. Stories can be a great way to give kids a glimpse at a sad topic, but Perez always recommends parents or guardians read the book themselves first before deciding whether it’s right for their child.

Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras, by Duncan Tonatiuh, featuring images by José Guadalupe PosadaGrades: 1-5
Ages: 6-10 years

“I love this book because the author has a very particular illustrating style,” Perez said. “His images look like ancient Mexican art.” This non-fiction book for slightly older readers focuses on the life story of José Guadalupe Posada, whose drawings of skeletons have become identified with the Mexican Day of the Dead iconography. The book incorporates both illustration styles for a beautiful result.

The Jumbies, by Tracey BaptisteGrades: 3-5
Ages: 9-12 years

This spooky fantasy book rooted in Caribbean folktales features a young girl trying to save her island from ghost-like entities called “Jumbies.” Perez says children this age love fantasy and this book is a slightly different take on a familiar genre. “I love that she’s a great protagonist; a very awesome example of a strong female,” Perez said.

This is the third and last book in Rita Williams-Garcia’s series about three sisters living in Brooklyn. In the first book the sisters go visit their mother in the summer during the Civil Rights Movement. They learn why their mother left them, meet some famous Black Panthers and generally get a taste of Oakland in the 1960s. The second book focuses on how the sisters deal with the new woman their father marries. And the third book, Gone Crazy in Alabama, features the three girls visiting their grandmother in Alabama during the Civil Rights era. They learn about feuds in the family and just how strong family bonds can be.

“I have two sisters so I could relate to it,” Perez said. “It’s about how sisters fight and get along in the end.” She loves the way Williams-Garcia captures characters’ voices and layers family dynamics throughout the story.

This book about the famous Lakota warrior seems like a perfect book report choice, but Perez says it goes far beyond educational content. The pages inside look like a notebook, as though someone is documenting Sitting Bull’s story in real time. Perez says it reminds her of Native ledger art. “It’s a mixture of sketching, photographs and text that appeals to lots of different ages,” Perez said.

George, by Alex GinoGrades: 3-7
Ages: 8-12 years

George is a timely book dealing with a different kind of diversity — the experience of a transgender student in school. “It’s the perspective of soemone going through something we may not understand,” Perez said. George identifies as a girl and refers to herself in the story with feminine pronouns, while everyone else refers to her as a boy. The written word is uniquely suited to spotlight the differences in pronouns and George’s fight to be recognized for who she is.

“It’s just an introduction to compassion and empathy for people who are struggling with internal issues that we may not understand,” Perez said.

The Way Home Looks Now, by Wendy Wan-Long ShangGrades: 3-7
Ages: 8-12 years

Peter Lee’s family used to be obsessed by baseball before tragedy struck. Now, his mother is depressed and no one seems to pay attention to baseball anymore. In an attempt to heal his family, Peter joins a team and his dad becomes the coach. This Chinese-American family has to navigate dynamics with mostly white players, including a girl disguised as a boy (the story takes place in 1972). While baseball doesn’t solve all Peter’s family’s problems, it does help them see that there’s hope after at tragedy. “Baseball lovers will love it, but it’s not the only thing going on in there,” Perez said.

Listen, Slowly, by Thanhhà LaiGrades: 3-7
Ages: 8-12 years

A typical, spoiled American girl is forced to visit Vietnam with her father and grandmother over the summer. While she dreams of being on the beach with her friends, her father and grandmother are trying to figure out what happened to her grandfather during the Vietnam War. As she delves into the story of her grandfather she learns to accept the Vietnamese part of her identity alongside her American one. Perez loves this book because it demonstrates the insights teens can come to on their own. While it sounds serious, she says it’s actually funny and lighthearted in many ways.

Full Cicada Moon, by Marilyn HiltonGrades: 3-7
Ages: 8-12 years

Set in Vermont in 1969, 12-year-old Mimi is obsessed with the Apollo 11 mission getting ready to launch. As a half black, half Japanese girl, Mimi identifies with space, often feeling like an alien in her mostly white town. She’s also really into science at a time when girls aren’t supposed to like science. “What’s really interesting is it’s written in lyrical verse,” Perez said.

Echo, by Pam Muñoz RyanGrades: 5-9
Ages: 10-14 years

“Echo is one of the craziest books I read this past year,” Perez said. “It’s an amazing story that just blows you away.” Part fairytale, part historical fiction, Echo weaves together four or five different story lines, each connected by a harmonica. The stories are diverse, featuring a family in Nazi Germany during World War II, a Mexican-American family caring for the orchard of a Japanese-American family that has been sent to internment camps and adopted brothers whose fortunes change. The audiobook has also gotten rave reviews for featuring harmonica music throughout.

In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse, by Joseph Marshall III, illustrations by Jim YellowhawkGrades: 5-9
Ages: 10-14 years

This is a coming-of-age story about a boy who is half-Lakota, but doesn’t look it. He learns about his heritage through his grandfather’s tales. This story is written by a member of the Lakota tribe.

X: A Novel, by Ilyasah Shabazz with Kekla MagoonGrades: 8 and up
Ages: 13 and up

When Perez asked teen librarians for their recommendations from this year, X kept coming up. A fictionalized account of the early life of Malcolm Little, who grew up to become Malcolm X, this story is written by Malcolm X’s daughter. “It’s been getting a lot of really cool buzz,” Perez said. She cautions that because it is a book for teens, it has some heavier language and themes.

]]>https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/06/20/20-books-featuring-diverse-characters-to-inspire-connection-and-empathy/feed/545121Books-Happy in our skinOne-FamilyJuna’s JarOne Word From Sophiabook-market street smallEmmanuel’s Dreambook-Im-new-here-smallbooks-mango abuelabook-mammas-nightengale-smallbook-funny bonesbook-jumbies-smallbook-gone-crazy-smallbook-sitting-bull-smallbook-george-smallbook-the-way-home-looks-smallbook-listen-slowly-smallFull Cicada Moonbook-echo-smallIN the Foosteps of Carzy HorseX A NovelOnline Learning: Why Libraries Could Be the Key to MOOCs’ Successhttps://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/04/25/online-learning-why-libraries-could-be-the-key-to-moocs-success/
https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/04/25/online-learning-why-libraries-could-be-the-key-to-moocs-success/#commentsMon, 25 Apr 2016 07:59:42 +0000http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=44784For all the promises of online courses disrupting education, completion rates are notoriously low. Some studies found that aboutfive percent of those enrolled in massive open online courses (known as MOOCs) completed the course. And those who took the courses tended to be more educated already– 70 percent of survey respondents had bachelors degrees and 39 percent identified as teachers or former teachers. Online courses can be a helpful tool for self-sufficient, highly motivated learners with reliable computers and internet at home, but others may need a little more support. For those who haven’t found success using free online courses, Learning Circles might be an answer.

Learning Circles add a social element to what is otherwise a solitary learning experience by bringing people together in person to take an online course together over six to eight weeks, with the help of a facilitator. Librarians at Chicago Public Library (CPL) partnered with the nonprofit Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU) to make online education more accessible through this program.

Libraries are a perfect setting for Learning Circles for several reasons: they already serve the local community; they are equipped with meeting spaces; many have computer stations, and most importantly, librarians know how to help people find answers.

“Most people take online classes in solitude and that’s when you put on the headphones,” said James Teng, a CPL librarian at who facilitated a course on public speaking. “Sometimes you feel alone. Learning Circles bring people together to work together and develop teamwork.”

In the CPL-P2PU partnership, librarians were not required to be content experts – that was the domain of the resources within the online course – but they were primed to be facilitators by promoting discussion and helping learners less familiar with research tools. Librarians said it felt similar to hosting a book club, but unlike preparing for a book discussion, they had less knowledge in advance. In many cases, the librarians learned alongside students as they completed the course.

“In the HTML/CSS class that we gave last fall, we definitely had some very strong (peer) teachers because they were people who were just coming to the course to brush up on the skills they already have,” said CPL librarian Kristen Edson, who facilitated courses at the Harold Washington Library Center. “They really did become teachers. And it was very awesome to sit there and see someone do that, to identify that they could be a leader and help others.”

Learning Circles aren’t for everyone; some people prefer a more traditional lecture or feel more comfortable having a content expert who has all the answers. But Learning Circles give participants a community, which does a lot to help with motivation. Librarians said it was important to set expectations at the outset, so they developed a Learning Circles contract.

“You come up with this contract: no cell phones, you’ll pay attention, be respectful of your fellow learners,” said Edson “so it gives them a sense of accountability in that first week. How serious they take it, it depends, but I feel like setting some ground rules in the first week is helpful.”

P2PU developed a Learning Circles Facilitator Handbook — with the input of CPL librarians — which gives facilitators the tools they need to run a program. Facilitators found that four-to-nine people is a good number for a group. If more people show up for a class, they can be broken up into multiple circles. In order to run a group, librarians set up the space for group learning and make laptops available when needed. The library chooses which free online classes it will support based on local needs, like GED completion, registered nursing exam preparation, academic writing and public speaking.

“Public libraries are often referred to as the people’s university,” said Mark Anderson, director of Learning and Economic Advancement of CPL, at the SXSWEDU conference. Library patrons traditionally come in, find resources, and are left on their own to learn the material. But with the P2PU partnership, funded by a Knight Foundation News Challenge on Libraries grant, Anderson said librarians were able to take a more active role in facilitating learning.

“The idea of working and creating these Learning Circles really helped us move closer to that ideal of being the people’s university to help people progress, with some facilitation on our part,” Anderson said.

Learning Circles are not limited to libraries, but are designed for use somewhere people can come together and take a course online. The model could also be used to fill in gaps in educational offerings both in school and the professional world, according to P2PU learning lead, Grif Peterson. “You can see the Learning Circles that are popping up around the world,” he said.

The pilot program has had a broad range of learners, from teenagers to adult professionals, looking to change their careers or improve their skills. One such student was Lupe Philips, a 53-year-old tourism professional. She was between jobs and looking to upgrade her skills. She’s an avid library user, and when she found out about the Learning Circles, she signed up for HTML/CSS, public speaking and novel writing. She said it was a welcoming change to engage with learners and enormously helpful that the courses were free.

“It was an avenue for me to upgrade my skills,” said Philips. “I may not be a master, but at least I have some concept of working HTML.”

Learning Circles introduced her to MOOCs for the first time, and she appreciated the feedback from her peers and facilitators in a small group setting.

“They did provide some critical feedback that I thought was necessary and I don’t think you would get that if you were taking an online course by yourself and not having to be accountable in a week’s time,” said Philips.

Getting people to the Learning Circles required some marketing outreach. Librarians attended local events and posted offerings on CPL’s website. Much of their marketing efforts were low-tech: fliers in and around libraries, coffee shops and community centers. Libraries, in general, have some work to do in spreading the word about the services they offer; a recent Pew Research Center survey found that many people don’t know about education resources offered by libraries. Of people surveyed by Pew, half didn’t know if their local libraries offered online programs for GED completion or mastery of new skills.

CPL’s outreach efforts helped a new population of learners take advantage of MOOCs — 90 percent of those who attended a Learning Circle heard about it through the library and 65 percent of those had never taken an online course before, said Peterson. Retention rates were around 45 – 55 percent, according to Peterson. He also noted that students were more compelled to take online courses on their own after the guided experience and continued to do work outside of the learning circles.

Learning Circles also helped librarians interact with patrons in new ways. They found themselves forming friendships and building community through repeated interactions. “It was just really enjoyable,” said Edson. “By the end of [the course], you know their names, at least if they’ve come enough times, so you can see them at the library and say ‘hi’ and have a more personal conversation with them than before, just sitting at a reference desk.”

]]>https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/04/25/online-learning-why-libraries-could-be-the-key-to-moocs-success/feed/344784WhitneyYoung2GNP_4112What Colleges Can Gain by Adding Makerspaces to Their Librarieshttps://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/02/05/what-colleges-can-gain-by-adding-makerspaces-to-its-libraries/
https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/02/05/what-colleges-can-gain-by-adding-makerspaces-to-its-libraries/#commentsFri, 05 Feb 2016 09:01:50 +0000http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=43581Libraries are one of the fastest-evolving learning spaces. As many resources move online, and teachers require students to collaborate more and demonstrate their learning, librarians are trying to keep up. Some are even spearheading the changes. Public libraries have led the effort to provide access to 21st century technologies and learning resources, but now university and K-12 libraries are beginning to catch up. Makerspaces are one way a few groundbreaking libraries are trying to provide equal access to exciting technologies and skills.

ESTABLISHED MAKERSPACE

North Carolina State University’s librarians have the reputation for being innovators and leaders of change. So when the university built its new James B. Hunt Jr. Library in 2013, it had a very small “makerspace” in what was originally designed to be a storage closet.

‘We’ve tied something that might look like a weird fringe thing to the library’s mission and the strategic goals.’

“Our library mission is to be a competitive advantage for our campus and for our students,” said Adam Rogers, the emerging technologies librarian at NCSU who pushed for the makerspace and now runs it. The makerspace is one of the few places on campus where anyone can access a 3-D printer or laser cutter. Often individual departments like engineering will have those tools, but they aren’t accessible to everyone. Rogers feels access to a makerspace fits firmly within the library’s mission.

“Our culture really favors us doing things like this,” Rogers said. “That said, I think it’s been very important that we’ve tied something that might look like a weird fringe thing to the library’s mission and the strategic goals.”

In his first foray into making, Rogers was able to provide only 3-D printing and a laser cutter. While Rogers is the first to acknowledge that doesn’t make it a real makerspace, he was eager to align the library with the movement and continue to grow what they can offer.

“We think of a 3-D printer, a laser printer, as actually being an information tool or resource because it’s all about the data that goes into the tool,” Rogers said. “You can’t do anything without understanding the data that goes into the machine.”

He sometimes compares the process of designing and 3-D printing a project to research. Students have to think about what they are making, understand its scale, design it on software and only then can it be printed.

The new library also opened up more space at NCSU’s older library, D.H. Hill. When the smaller, 3-D printing-focused making experiment went well, Rogers pushed to open a second, more hands-on focused makerspace in an area that used to be staff offices before those employees were moved over to Hunt Library.

“It allows for hands-on learning in a different, maybe richer way,” Rogers said. He offers workshops in the new makerspace and has been able to fill it with a wider variety of tools and materials, including hand tools, sewing machines, fabrics, circuitry, a sautering station and more.

“Everything in the space is pretty flexible,” Rogers said. “We can move all the tables and chairs around. We’ve got power coming down from the ceilings, so we can have power anywhere we want without tripping.” And they have ventilation, a key aspect of makerspaces.

Rogers has also done a lot of outreach to faculty so they know the space is available to support their in-class teaching. Rogers said last semester he worked with eight to 10 professors on class projects.

One professor from the English department teaching a digital humanities class brought his students to the makerspace three times: once to learn about the tools, once to do a hands-on project and finally as part of their final project.

“That was really exciting because as librarians we aren’t so much the drivers of pedagogical innovations, but we’re really supportive of it,” Rogers said. He believes some of the most successful uses of the space have been through these faculty collaborations because students come in and work on a project from start to finish.

“This is really a space where we’re offering additional learning experiences alongside the formal learning experiences in the classroom,” Rogers said. “And I think we’re seeing that the experiences we’re offering are becoming a really valuable part of the full university experience.”

cardboard crafts (CSM Library/Flickr)

Rogers offers several core workshops on 3-D design and printing and Arduinos in the makerspace that are meant to be accessible to everyone. They introduce students to the technology, help them understand the range of capabilities and give them some kind of project that will produce an output.

“The workshop is saying this is a tool for creativity and for problem-solving,” Rogers said. “It’s one any student or researcher on campus would benefit from knowing and find some application for.”

In the Arduino workshop, Rogers tries to familiarize participants with the components of the SparkFun Inventor’s Kits that the library lends out. They examine how the light sensor and temperature controls work, and experiment with actions like running a motor or transmitting an output onto a screen. Rogers shows students how to write a few lines of code that controls a LED light so they can see how the code is controlling the physical activity. Then he lets them play around for the rest of the workshop.

There are very few learning spaces at most universities where students can tinker with materials and get exposed to technologies that are quickly becoming part of every discipline. Rogers said students also bring their own passions into the space, designing and sewing Cosplay costumes or animae swords, for example.

Rogers recommends that university librarians start small when thinking about developing a makerspace. Find out who else on campus is already doing some of this work and partner with them, maybe start lending out some tools or kits, offer a workshop or two to gauge interest. He also says: Don’t jump right into 3-D printing without thinking through what it means to offer a service like that to the whole university community.

While there are logistical challenges to having a makerspace in the library, Rogers said it has been a positive experience at North Carolina State University. Librarians are showcasing skills like bookbinding to students, and there’s a lot of excitement and learning going on beyond the classroom.

3D printing extravaganza (CSM Library/Flickr)

MAKING UNDER CONSTRAINTS

San Diego State University has had a makerspace focused on 3-D printing and laser cutting for a little over a year now. Like NCSU, it, too, started in a closet and has moved three times since then, until finally finding a home in the lobby of the library. Jenny Wong-Welch, the STEM librarian, started the space with the intention of offering students access to new technologies and tools.

‘My engineering students have been shocked to see how the arts students use the 3-D printer.’

“The whole point is to be a welcoming environment,” Wong-Welch said. Her space started as a fringe project, one that many of the other librarians didn’t really understand, but it has grown into a space staffed by a variety of students who volunteer their time. Wong-Welch says at first she mostly had engineering students, but now art and business students, among others, have joined. They’re all interested in learning something new in a low-stakes environment.

“My engineering students have been shocked to see how the arts students use the 3-D printer,” Wong-Welch said. Students from different disciplines have learned a lot from one another, approaching projects, materials, tools and software in ways that other students had never thought of before.

Wong-Welch says it has been especially fun to learn alongside students. They have discussions about intellectual property rights, figure out scale together and teach anyone else who comes into the space how to use the technology. Each of Wong-Welch’s regular volunteers is also working on an individual project. One student mapped out the marketplace for open-source versus proprietary printing. Another is trying to program an Arduino to sense when visitors come into the space and count them.

Jewelry making (CSM Library/Flickr)

While the school administration has been fairly supportive of the effort, Wong-Welch says her biggest struggle has been getting buy-in from faculty. “There is a weariness from the faculty to learn new technology and incorporate it into their curriculum,” she said. And, without faculty partnerships, it’s hard to get the funding to continue expanding what the space offers. There are many competing demands on the library’s budget, and Wong-Welch had hoped that professors might write some makerspace equipment and materials into their grant proposals.

The other struggle is a fundamental one around the idea of making as an academic endeavor. How does one measure what goes on in a makerspace? Anecdotally, Wong-Welch can point to the interdisciplinary dialogue, the hands-on experiences that often result in failure and necessitate trying again. She can say the students she works with are learning software, hardware and programming skills, but it’s harder to quantify things like the effect of a tight-knit community on a commuter campus, a creative, safe space.

“We don’t have the data to show they learned something while they’re here,” Wong-Welch said. She believes university makerspaces will continue to struggle because their definition and purpose is murkier than the traditional and clearly defined library mission of storing and retrieving books.

Robotics (CSM Library/Flickr)

A COMMUNITY SPACE

Four-year universities aren’t the only ones branching out into makerspaces. Several community colleges are also cultivating spaces for creativity, problem-solving and access to new technologies. The College of San Mateo sits in the heart of Silicon Valley and its library director, Lorrita Ford, demonstrates the entrepreneurial spirit for which the area is known.

Ford believes the library should be at the center of the college community and the broader community as well. “We serve a population that in many cases isn’t sure about what they’re going to do,” Ford said. Many College of San Mateo students are the children of service workers in the area. Their families don’t have a lot of experience with higher education, and students are still trying to discover their strengths.

“We really want them to have a place where they can come and discover their inner engineer that they may have not known existed,” Ford said. She and her staff embarked on their makerspace adventure in 2013 and have steadily grown what they offer since then, all without a dedicated space. Many of their tools can be checked out, and when specific workshops are offered Ford repurposes library tables or holds them outside.

“It seems to us that it’s a good intersection between learning and creativity,” Ford said of making. “It’s also a social place. We welcome everyone.”

The unique thing about a makerspace, Ford said, is that it shows you a different side of people. A biology professor might lead a workshop on jewelry-making and a student could lead a workshop on knitting. “They come here and they share that with other people, and then they talk and get to know each other at a different level,” Ford said. “I think it fills a niche.”

When Ford started the makerspace she gathered faculty from science, technology, engineering, art and math disciplines to gauge interest. It was then she realized how much expertise and excitement already existed in the community.

“The fact that we had buy-in from faculty really helped,” Ford said. “It wasn’t just the library pushing for it, it was faculty from engineering, physics, the arts that were supportive, too.” Ford ended up getting an innovation grant that helped jump-start the program. Since then, the library has partnered with faculty to design solar cars, build telescopes and learn about African-American textiles, among other things.

“We really see it as supporting what’s going on in the classroom,” Ford said. She described one science professor who used the makerspace with his class to print out each section of the cervical spine. Each segment is slightly different, and he wanted his students to be able to see and touch them.

Ford has also done a lot of work with student groups on campus. “We really work to make it a multicultural space, and when we’re designing programs we try to reflect and help expand cultural awareness,” Ford said. The Pacific Islander student group came in and led a workshop on how to make graduation leis. The Puente program did a Dia de los Muertos skull-making activity where Ford was surprised to learn that the holiday is celebrated only in some parts of Mexico.

Dia de los Muertos skulls (CSM Library/Flickr)

Faculty members have also used the space to teach skills not covered in their courses. One engineering professor was so excited about the space he taught coding classes to students for fun. The library supported him by buying the software, circuits, Arduinos and other supplies he needed. Another faculty member taught students about online privacy and two-step encryption.

“We have this great physical space here, and I think as we involve in terms of what the library of the 21st century will be like, I think it makes sense for us to embrace and reinvent ourselves and make this part of our ‘new normal,’ ” Ford said. And she emphasized that while many people talk about libraries becoming irrelevant in the digital age, that hasn’t been her experience.

The College of San Mateo library is busier than ever, mostly with students looking for a quiet space where they can spread out. Ford and her staff try to respect various student needs simultaneously in the library. They try to make the library a welcoming space by letting students bring in food and offering relaxing activities like Legos and adult coloring in addition to everything else. Ford says if a noisy making activity is planned, they try to communicate that early, and even pass out earplugs to students who are trying to study.

Ford’s advice for anyone starting a makerspace on campus is to first develop relationships with faculty. “I’ve been really intentional in cultivating relationships with faculty and staff and have been really intentional about becoming part of the fabric of the college,” Ford said.

When she started at College of San Mateo 15 years ago, the library was very isolated. But over time she has worked to put library staff on key committees and to help support faculty whenever possible. She also made it clear to faculty how a makerspace could support the work they’re doing in classrooms.

Ford also suggests finding faculty champions, the people who already go to Burning Man or to Maker Faire, the ones who already have the hands-on gene. And, be patient. She’s also done a lot of partnering with the county, trying to make the college’s workshops and materials available to the wider community.

“Build it and keep nurturing it and eventually they will come,” Ford said. “In a lot of ways we are ahead of the curve a little bit, but they know we’re here and people show up at the library looking for stuff.” She described a student who came in looking for an adapter so he could hook his computer up to the projector in class. The library didn’t have those to check out, but Ford had one in her desk, so she quickly made it available for checkout.

She says when the library is an integral part of the whole college community, and its staff is there to help anyone who needs access to something, it changes the whole tone of the endeavor. And in that kind of environment, a makerspace just makes sense.

]]>https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/02/05/what-colleges-can-gain-by-adding-makerspaces-to-its-libraries/feed/143581NCSU makerspaceHacking and learning wearable tech in the NCSU makerspace.16626010403_c15ea44a6b_kcardboard craftscollege-makerspace13D printing extravaganza22202200598_a22701478a_kJewelry making21769438583_9ef9c9b19e_kRobotics22621735470_4e05ede54e_kDia de los Muertos skullsFive Clever Ideas to Spark Independent Reading by Kidshttps://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/07/22/five-clever-ideas-to-spark-independent-reading-by-kids/
https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/07/22/five-clever-ideas-to-spark-independent-reading-by-kids/#commentsWed, 22 Jul 2015 12:37:25 +0000http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=41115There are so many concepts, skills and standards to be covered in any given school day, week or year that it can be easy to forget about one simple activity that promotes autonomy and starts students down a path of lifelong learning — independent reading.

Kids are increasingly immersed in their digital devices, leading some adults to worry that reading for pleasure is in danger of disappearing. But creative school librarians are proving there are plenty of great ways to get kids excited about reading on their own.

“Reading is so social,” said Michelle Luhtala, librarian at New Caanan High School in Connecticut during an edWeb webinar. “The strongest reading programs have rules that you have to talk about what you’re reading.”

Luhtala is implementing plenty of innovative ideas to get kids reading in her school, but she also asked colleagues around the country to weigh in on great ideas to promote independent reading at every grade level.

1. Reading Clubs For Teachers

Book clubs are nothing new, and some especially motivated teachers even participate in these kinds of discussions with Professional Learning Networks to push their practice forward. But many teachers have so much going on that book clubs slide to the back of the priority list, especially if they are expected to read kids books.

Tamara Cox knew time was her hurdle when she launched a book club for Anderson School District One teachers in South Carolina. She lobbied the district to give continuing education units for participation, justifying her argument by linking a new tech tool to every book the group discussed.

With that incentive, a huge number of teachers wanted to participate in the program, so Cox broke them up into groups based on the age group they taught. Every month they read a book from a different genre or theme, casting a wide net with their choices.

“They were really adventurous; they opened it up to everything,” Luhtala said. Students were excited to see their teachers seriously discussing the graphic novels, manga and horror books that they might have chosen for themselves.

“What a great way to get your teachers to model reading for their students,” Luhtala said of the program. And, it had the added benefit of giving teachers and students common books to discuss. This might seem like a waste of time, but Cox found the program legitimized the kinds of books students love, introduced teachers to fun literature they might never have made time for, and sparked great conversations between the two groups.

“If you are confused about where to start, pick something that will surprise your teachers and jazzes your kids,” Luhtala recommended.

Along the way, Cox paired tech tools like Tellagami, iMovie, Puppet Pals, Venn Diagram, Trading Cards, Visual Poet and Chatter Pix (everyone’s favorite) with each genre. She encouraged kids to make book trailers for each title on the reading list, which involved students in the project, let them show their excitement about books and helped teachers understand how the various tech tools could be used in the classroom.

Crucially, Cox took a lot of feedback from teachers after the first teacher reading club. She’s working to tailor the experience even more to the needs of the classroom. The whole experience also helped build collaboration between teachers and their school librarian.

2. Genre-fy the Library

When Sherry Gick became the library and instructional technology specialist at Rossville Consolidated Schools in Indiana, she was troubled that ever-younger students would tell her they hated reading. That promoted her big goal: make the district a place where independent reading thrived. After six years as a librarian, even substitute teachers tell her they notice how clear it is that kids love to read.

Gick worked to make the library a more student-centered place by moving the books into genre sections. This could be a librarian’s worst nightmare, but she let the kids help her decide which genres to use and where different books fit, emphasizing there was no right or wrong answer. Gick ended up classifying books into 10 genres: sports, history, realism, fantasy, supernatural, suspense (horror), mystery, classical, adventure and science fiction.

“The fact that she involved the kids in the discussion brings up that culture of reading,” Luhtala said. “They feel like they have ownership of this.” The middle school students did most of the classifying, which had the added benefit of emphasizing some Common Core standards like reading for information, scanning for the big idea and, of course, classifying. Many books fit in multiple genres, but since students got to decide, the library reflects their thinking.

When kids visit the library, Gick doesn’t ask them what they like to read. Instead, she asks them what movies, TV shows or video games they like in order to get them interacting with her in some way.

“Then you can steer them toward one section where they feel comfortable, so they have a space they can go,” Luhtala said. And often authors write books that fit into multiple genres. If a student discovers Rick Riordan through his famous “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series, she may also read some of Riordan’s mysteries and discover a new genre.

Genre-fying the library meant that Gick had to split the Dewey system of ordering books. Rather than putting autobiographies of sports greats in one section and fiction about sports in another, she combined them. Taking this approach made location the highest priority and meant that she didn’t have to change all the spine labels.

Gick also worked with classroom teachers to bring K-8 classes into the library, where they got to choose their own books and read silently. High school classes did something similar, depending on the teacher. Gick makes sure the kids have lots of choices in terms of content, but also in format. She’s got paper books and ebooks, offers ways for kids to discuss books online and in person, and stays away from book quizzes.

All the librarians emphasized that conversations about books keep reading social, relevant and fun. For many students, personal interactions are becoming less common as life becomes more digitally focused.

“What’s being lost is the skill of conversation,” Luhtala said. “If we can use books to reintroduce that skill into our kids’ lives, that’s super powerful.”

3. Somewhat Virtual Book Clubs

Many librarians or English teachers have tried to start student book clubs to encourage independent reading and have seen them fall flat because of too little interest. Librarians across the country teamed up to make a more robust club that meets in person at individual schools and then online with peers across the country using Google Hangouts. They have a Goodreads page and Twitter hashtag (#SWVBC), calling themselves the Somewhat Virtual Book Club.

“It helps you to know what you believe in and maybe even question your own opinions about what’s happening in the world,” said Rosemary, a rising sophomore at New Caanan High School. She likes connecting with students on the other side of the country and discovering they’ve read the same Tumblr post she has or have really different ideas about a book they both read.

Other librarians and teachers are using the virtual world to connect students to the authors of books. The class will tweet at an author or invite her to Skype into the class for a few minutes. These real-world interactions can help reading feel more exciting for students.

4. Contests

In Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, Elissa Malespina has found a little friendly competition with a silly reward can go a long way to getting students reading. At the elementary level, she sets a goal for number of books each child should read. And when students reach the goal, a pre-determined silly-something happens: The principal might shave his head, or dye his hair red for a day, or participate in a dunk tank.

Meanwhile, at Sedgwick Middle School in Connecticut, Shannon McNeice has her students participating in Book Trivia Battles at the local public library. Preparing for the battles means reading lots and lots of books. McNeice has found other ways to make reading social, too, launching an Instagram campaign called “What Are You Reading?” that has been fairly successful.

5. Book-A-Day Program

At Sanislo Elementary in Seattle, Washington parent volunteers have started a book-a-day program where each student gets to borrow a new book every night. The books are tracked, and about 90 percent come back each day.

“It starts these conversations in the classroom,” Luhtala said. “Every day they’re having this rich dialogue about the book they got that day.”

All of these ideas get kids excited about reading, talking about what they’ve read, and developing the habit of reading. It’s an easy way to give students choice and broaden their horizons as standards require more specific kinds of reading in class. Many librarians have found that getting kids hooked on a series is a great way to extend reading into the summer, too.

Ultimately, cultivating independent readers must be about helping students find the joy in reading. That requires lots of choice, little judgment, many formats in which to read and lots of online, analog and face-to-face opportunities to share thoughts about the book.

At hundreds of libraries across the U.S., 3-D printers can sometimes be heard whirring in the background, part of an effort to encourage interest in the new technology and foster DIY “maker spaces.”

In some libraries, officials have begun to set restrictions on the 3-D printers amid concerns about how they’ll be used.

At the University City Public Library in St. Louis, Patrick Wall recently printed a green plastic sword from the game Minecraft.

He runs this library and was demonstrating its new 3-D printer for a group of kids and adults. The play sword took close to seven hours to print, Wall says.

The printer is roughly the size of a microwave with an open space in the middle. A coil of filament feeds an extruder that moves back and forth inside, dabbing molten plastic into layers that harden.

The 3-D printer, a 3-D scanner and filament cost about $4,500, Wall says.

University City was the first of two public libraries in the St. Louis area to set up 3-D printers for public use. But, according to the American Library Association, more than 250 libraries across the country that have one.

“It’s actually part of a larger trend,” says the ALA’s Sari Feldman. 3-D printers are just the newest example of the interactive spaces that libraries are becoming for their communities, she says.

“So, where once we thought of libraries as places where we had things for people, now we really do things for people — or do things with people,” Feldman says.

She says libraries large and small across the U.S. are setting up so-called “maker spaces,” offering increasingly sophisticated hardware and software, including studio production equipment, design software and in some cases, even laser cutters.

But Feldman says the possibilities that come with cheap, user-friendly 3-D printers have also created a new gray area in setting library policy.

“There are many legal and intellectual freedom issues that need to be addressed when you make 3-D printers freely available for public use,” she says.

For instance, the same technology that can print a plastic Minecraft sword is also capable of printing plastic gun parts or other items.

The ALA has recommended guidelines for libraries to address concerns about safety, access and liability. But some local libraries have established rules on their own.

At the Pope County Library System in central Arkansas, new restrictions have been placed on its two printers. They include printing objects that are prohibited by law, or deemed obscene or otherwise inappropriate.

Adult and Teen Services Librarian Sherry Simpson says there were just too many unknowns.

“We want to inspire their interest in design and we want them to bring their creations to life. However, some creations probably don’t need to see life through the library,” she says.

Like most other libraries, University City’s currently has no specific limits on using its 3-D printer. Director Patrick Wall says it falls under the library’s general policy that applies to 2-D printers and other services and materials.

“It hasn’t come up,” he says. “We tend not to make policies about things that we fear might happen in the future. I’m sure there’ll come a day when someone does something that we weren’t expecting and at that time, we’ll sit down and talk about it.”

And in an age where digital and technical literacy is stressed alongside traditional reading and writing, libraries are setting up plenty of space for the unexpected.

Inquiry-based learning has been around in education circles for a long time, but many teachers and schools gradually moved away from it during the heyday of No Child Left Behind. The pendulum is beginning to swing back towards an inquiry-based approach to instruction thanks to standards such as Common Core State Standards for math and English Language Arts, the Next Generation Science Standards and the College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards. Transitioning to this style of teaching requires students to take a more active role and asks teachers to step back into a supportive position. It can be a tough transition for many students and their teachers, but turning to the school librarian for support could make the transition a little easier.

“This is so new for teachers, whereas librarians have been doing this for ten years,” said Paige Jaeger, a school librarian turned administrator and co-author of Think Tank Library: Brain-Based Learning Plans for New Standards. According to Jaeger, librarians were some of the first educators to realize that the Internet made finding information (their bread and butter) much easier. But they also recognized that kids would need help synthesizing and analyzing the vast amounts of information at their fingertips. This realization naturally led them to inquiry-based approaches. “The emphasis went away from being taught how to find it and went towards how to assess what you’re finding and what you’re going to do with it,” Jaeger said.

‘Swaying education towards an attempt to get kids to remember lots of stuff that is talked at them doesn’t work.’

As grade level and content-specific teachers begin to incorporate inquiry-based approaches into their classrooms, they should look to collaborate on lesson planning with their librarian, Jaeger said. Jaeger and her co-author Mary Ratzer want to align teaching strategies to the research on how the brain learns best, which they believe fits perfectly with inquiry learning.

“The inquiry process is brain-based from beginning to end,” said Ratzer, a former teacher, current librarian and adjunct professor in an edWeb webinar. She and Jaeger are eager for educators to understand how the brain works and why traditional school tactics ignore what neuroscience teaches about how kids learn.

HOW THE BRAIN WORKS

“If your brain could talk it would say, ‘I’m lazy and I delete what’s not important,’” Ratzer said. “If the kid doesn’t have rigor and the ability to consolidate and hard wire ideas, he’ll revert to the lazy behavior. You want an essential question that immediately says: this is important.”

To snag students’ attention early, Jaeger and Ratzer suggest developing essential questions that connect the standards to the real world. Connecting learning to the experience of the learner makes it more relevant and allows students to manipulate and apply their learning in ways that they can see. This approach focuses students’ attention and immediately distinguishes the learning from a simple bureaucratic task that they just have to get through. “In this process, you have an active learner with an engaged brain,” Jaeger said.

After introducing an essential question, let students research, think alone, talk with others and use the information they’ve found to construct answers. “In the middle of this process, you’ve got a learner who will benefit from working with peers,” Ratzer said. The teacher’s job is to help make both learning and misperceptions visible, to coach when a student is stuck and provide formative assessment followed by suggestions. Teachers are invaluable at helping students to see connections between pieces of information and to scaffold their experience of building a big idea out of all the information they’ve gathered.

“He will not make a step towards synthesis until he has taken and successfully consolidated ideas into a schema of big ideas,” Ratzer said. At the end of the process Jaeger and Ratzer describe, the student should have created something new out of their learning that goes far beyond a teacher transferring knowledge to a student. The knowledge has become part of the learner, attached to their prior experiences and emotions, acting to reinforce the child’s sense of efficacy.

“We have a limited capacity for short term recall,” Ratzer said. “Swaying education towards an attempt to get kids to remember lots of stuff that is talked at them, doesn’t work.” In fact, she maintains that the average brain forgets most of what was learned in a rote fashion within two weeks. So cramming information into students’ heads that will be tested on Friday isn’t an effective way to ensure the learning sticks.

“A kid doesn’t just pick this up from the grass,” Ratzer said, “they have to learn to become expert thinkers.” She’s boiled this process down into a bit of formula, but cautions that connecting new information to emotions or prior experience is the crucial part of making meaning. That process can’t be codified since it will be different for every child.

Researching and writing state reports is a common assignment across the country. Usually students are asked to look up information like the state bird, flower, capital etc. A more inquiry-based approach would be to ask a question like, “How has your state contributed to the good of the country?” Jaeger and Ratzer argue this is a much more compelling question and while students will have to research the facts and issues pertaining to the state, they will also have to synthesize that information to create a reasoned argument based on fact.

“We really have a generation that’s almost out of touch with their ability to function in this way,” Ratzer said, “they’re waiting for you to fill in the blank.” In a time of easy access to information, teachers must focus on helping students evaluate and synthesize the facts throughout all levels of school. “We are underestimating very young children,” Ratzer said. “They really can do some pretty high-end thinking, some complex thought processes.” The problem is they often aren’t asked to do so and they go through their school careers without developing these important life skills.

]]>https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/01/19/how-can-your-librarian-help-bolster-brain-based-teaching-practices/feed/738735Kevin-Harber-Ask-a-Librarian-5466662990_426144a1da_oFlickr/Kevin HarberHow Libraries are Advancing and Inspiring Schools and Communitieshttps://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/11/20/how-libraries-are-advancing-and-inspiring-communities/
https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/11/20/how-libraries-are-advancing-and-inspiring-communities/#commentsThu, 20 Nov 2014 19:00:22 +0000http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/?p=38418Students learn how to take great product photographs using equipment provided by Etsy’s pilot Craft Entrepreneurship program held at the Chattanooga Public Library. (Courtesy of Mary Barnett)

It’s well known that public libraries are no longer just about the books — even e-books. Many community libraries are receiving 21st century digital-age makeovers: Numerous digital technologies, maker spaces to invite creation, even video production suites and 3-D printers now inhabit many libraries across the country.

But a report just released by the Aspen Institute Dialogue on Public Libraries asks us again to reconsider how the library can serve communities in the 21st century. “Rising to the Challenge: Re-Envisioning Public Libraries” aims to “capture the momentum and excitement of the innovations taking place in public libraries across the country, and the impact these are having on communities,” said the group’s director, Amy Garmer. The report asks: With all the new technology and layered networks, what can be done beyond current advancements?

“We are a place for the curious, for creativity, a place for learning, a place to experiment. It’s always been the mission of the library. We’re just using different tools.”

The Dialogue on Public Libraries group is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries Program and is made up of 34 library field leaders, business executives, government officials, education experts and community development visionaries. The group aims for more than just holding up great examples of libraries working well in the digital age.

“We want to provide a catalyst for new thinking about libraries as platforms for learning, creativity and innovation in their communities, and the creation of new networked forms of libraries,” Garmer said. If the report could spark engagement at the local, state and national levels to rethink how to use libraries and then constructively act on it, Garmer said, then the group’s goal will have been achieved.

Two cities in the state of Tennessee, Nashville and Chattanooga, were highlighted in the report for their bold reimagining of what a library could be, and how their communities have responded in overwhelmingly positive and successful ways to the changes.

When Corinne Hill got appointed executive director of the Chattanooga Public Library in 2012, the city had just received a harrowing report on the state of its library. “It was a really bad report,” Hill said. “The consultant came in and basically said the system was broken.” Because the library needed rebuilding from the ground up, she said, the board was open to doing something really different, and she saw an opportunity.

Visitors from New Zealand check out the Chattanooga Public Library’s loom, in addition to the library’s digital capabilities. (Courtesy of Mary Barnett)

At the same time, Chattanooga was undergoing a transformation. City leaders had recently provided the entire city with a one-gigabit-per-second Internet speed as a municipal utility, the first in the Western Hemisphere. Hill saw a great opportunity to leverage the brand-new “GigCity” to improve — and expand — the library.

“Having that kind of speed in a library is crazy-ridiculous-amazing,” Hill said. With the help of grants and the library’s operating budget, she invested in outfitting the downtown library with infrastructure to handle the highest-speed Internet, and then got to work on what they would offer.

The fourth floor of the library had historically been used as storage, but Hill decided to rip it all out and transform it into a space the community could use. “We emptied all of that [storage] out, and turned it into a raw space with all the appeal of a 1930s factory space, with concrete floors and everything that goes along with it,” she said. “It’s now a public space. If you’ve got an idea, you can develop it here.”

Currently, the fourth floor is home to several businesses, including a wedding-dress maker who uses the space to cut out patterns, and a writer in residence. One of Hill’s goals was not only to offer the high tech — like a popular 3-D printer available to the public — but the decidedly low tech, too. “We’ve got sewing classes, we’ve developed these popular programs about making stuff, which is a natural extension of the space,” she said. “And we’re now in the textile market! We brought in a loom and it’s really popular. We’re becoming where the community can come and make stuff. Yes, the gig is sexy, but this other stuff is very real, very much a maker movement.”

And very soon, the fourth floor will be adding the GigLab, “a separate but inclusive gig-connected space designed specifically for gigabit-related experimentation and learning,” according the website. That level of connectivity, according to Hill, will create new opportunities. “Our job then will be to help the community figure out what to do when you got a gig,” Hill said. “It’s like back in the days when electricity was new. Once you turn the lights on, what do you want to do next? What do you do with all that electricity? We’re doing the same thing.”

Nearly 700 kids and teens per day pour through the library’s second floor, which is dedicated to youth. Not only are kids enticed by the 3-D printer and video arcade, but they can also learn how to edit video using software provided by Mozilla, go to coding camp or lay down on the floor with a Chromebook and do research for a school project. Hill and her team have also joined with the online craft marketplace Etsy to help teens get their own Etsy stores off the ground. “When I was 14, I worked at a pizza place. Can you imagine if your first job can be your own shop?” Hill said.

While many parents and teachers worry that all the tech gadgets will draw students away from reading books, Hill said, she’s finding that reality is the opposite: So many students now associate technology with school that they find reading print books pure pleasure.

Much like the missions of Nashville’s Limitless Library and the Aspen Institute’s report, Hill said she hopes to transform the Chattanooga library “into a catalyst for lifelong learning, especially in the age that we live in.”

“Giving people access in a public space is a great use of tax dollars,” Hill said. “We’re not really expanding the role of libraries. It’s doing what we’ve always done, we’re just using different stuff. We are a place for the curious, for creativity, a place for learning, a place to experiment. It’s always been the mission of the library. We’re just using different tools.”

Beyond Mobile Libraries

In Nashville, Mayor Karl Dean had an idea to “break down the walls” between the public library and the public school libraries. Dean, who is also a member of the Dialogue on Libraries group, noticed that technology changed how students received information in every area of their lives, but school libraries struggled to keep up both in the quality and relevance of the materials they could offer.

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean (left) with a student at Dupont Tyler Middle School. The school participates in the Limitless Library program and recently had its library renovated through the program.

So together with then-Library Director Donna Nicely, Dean created the Limitless Libraries program, a way for public school students to access the entire public library catalog without ever having to leave school. Students can check out any material the public library has to offer — including books, music and DVDs, but also iPads and e-readers — through their school library, and the public libraries deliver the materials directly to the schools every day.

Beginning as a pilot program in 2009 with just a handful of schools, Dean can proudly say that Limitless Libraries is now available in every Nashville public school. The effects on the students and the libraries have been staggering. “Out of 28,000 students who have registered [for the program],” said Dean, “15,000 have used the public library for the first time because of Limitless Libraries. And circulation at school libraries has increased by 79 percent.”

Limitless Libraries has also helped teachers, Dean notes, by giving students access to the millions of volumes in the public libraries, which means better access to quality materials for research papers and projects. And, above all, the program gives access to books and materials to many kids who can’t afford them on their own, or have difficulty getting to a library from home.

Dean said he is a “big believer” in libraries, and they are far from becoming irrelevant. “People need to have access to computers, digital books and DVDs,” Dean said. “Libraries are also gathering places for a number of reasons,” he said, which is why he’s building two new Nashville libraries, one as part of a community center inside an abandoned shopping mall. “They’re tremendously popular, every community wants one, and the demand isn’t going away,” he said. “They’ll play an even more important role in cities going forward.”

Garmer said Dean is a “visionary leader when it comes to connecting and supporting the public library in the community,” and a great example for the report. While schools are an obvious partner for libraries, she said, because they come out of different parts of the budget and are part of two different professional communities, their “silos” are difficult to break down. “When leaders step outside of the box and really reimagine what a library is capable of doing in the community,” she said, “the new partnerships and collaborations will start to flow naturally.”

Looking to the future, Dean has even more plans for the limitless nature of Nashville’s school libraries, investing in the physical places to make them “the coolest spaces in the school,” as well as upgrading their technology. “If what you want a city to be is filled with lifelong learners, and be a creative place, you have to have libraries,” Dean said. “Libraries are the best way to get that done.”

]]>https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/11/20/how-libraries-are-advancing-and-inspiring-communities/feed/638418ETSY-photo-1Students learn how to take great product photographs using equipment provided by Etsy’s pilot Craft Entrepreneurship program held at the Chattanooga Public Library. (Courtesy of Mary Barnett)Chattanooga-in-the-right-placeThe Chattanooga Public Library. (Courtesy of Mary Barnett)Chattanooga-library-loomVisitors from New Zealand check out the Chattanooga Public Library's loom, in addition to the library's digital capabilities. (Courtesy of Mary Barnett)Nashville-LibraryNashville Mayor Karl Dean (left) with a student at Dupont Tyler Middle School. The school participates in the Limitless Library program and recently had its library renovated through the program.Teach Kids To Be Their Own Internet Filtershttps://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/10/04/teach-kids-to-be-their-own-filter/
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It’s becoming less and less effective to block students from websites. When Los Angeles Unified rolled out its one-to-one iPad program, administrators expected to be able to control how students used them both in school and at home. But, not surprisingly, kids are resourceful and students quickly found ways around the security, prompting the district to require students to turn over the devices.

Students live in an information-saturated world. Rather than shielding them from the digital world, many agree the most effective way to keep them safe and using the internet responsibly as a learning tool is to teach them how to be their own filters. That’s not only a life skill, but one that’s important when researching. Older kids, especially, have the capacity to learn how to decide which online sources can be trusted and why.

“If we are not teaching the kids to use the web as a vehicle for enhancing learning and teaching them to be the filter, that’s a dereliction of duty.”

A key to making sure good practices stick is to teach research skills when kids need them. “If it’s not embedded with instruction it will have no relevance to the learner,” said Michelle Luhtala, Library Department Chair at New Canaan High School in Connecticut during an edWeb webinar (who also leads Banned Website Awareness Day). She doesn’t swoop into a sophomore history class and guest lecture on how to research on the web. “If it’s taught separately, in isolation from the content, I don’t think the kids are going to take the learning seriously,” Luhtala said.

While they’re learning to be good researchers, students will also be solidifying key Common Core competencies, like the ability to integrate knowledge, identify truthful reasoning, and use evidence to make a point.

“If we are not teaching the kids to use the web as a vehicle for enhancing learning and teaching them to be the filter, that’s a dereliction of duty,” Luhtala said. One good way to put students through a meaningful, rigorous experience of analyzing source validity is with an annotated bibliography. Students have to not only summarize the source’s importance, but also evaluate its validity. Here are some data points Luhtala teaches students to identify.

Identifying features: maps, graphs, documents, reprints etc.

Scope: Is the source broad like an encyclopedia entry or does it go deeply into a subject? When researching, start broad and narrow along the way.

Sources: Does the article references where the information came from?

Reliable: What’s a legitimate news source? Look for clues in layout, author biography, labels on the page that would indicate if it’s opinion or reported work.

Currency: How recent is the work? Does that date matter for the purposes of the project?

Comparison: Can the information be compared to other sources?

Authority: Is the author really an expert? What clues from their bio would indicate if the author has a specific bias? Did he or she get paid to write the article? That can be a good indicator of bias.

Audience: Discern who the article is written for and that will help determine its purpose and perhaps its bias.

Viewpoint: Different viewpoints have varying degrees of validity. There are times when one viewpoint should perhaps be given more weight than another.

Purpose: Was it written to promote something?

Conclusion: What conclusions did the author draw?

Relevance: Is the source relevant to the research needs?

Additionally, Luhtala pushes her students to think carefully about the layout of various websites, especially news sources. Sometimes it can be hard to determine if an article is a book review, op-ed, reported article or even something self-promotional. “You cannot just accept an article at face value without clicking to figure out who wrote the article,” Luhtala said. She pushes students to identify whether a given text is anecdote, fact, opinion or research and asks them to pay attention to the language to determine whether something leans towards conservative or liberal views.

New Canaan High School allows students to use sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Student mobile devices are also considered learning tools. That works because of a culture of trust and responsibility the school has developed. Freshmen watch a welcome video on their first day with the message “We Trust You.”

Freshmen also kick off their first year of high school with a rigorous, self-directed, collaborative research boot camp project. The project includes 101 steps to develop good research habits at the beginning of their high school career. “It’s a baseline review for them and it helps me know what they know and they don’t know,” Luhtala said. The library also has its own Google Voice phone number that students can text or call with questions at any time of the day. “I’ve never ever had an inappropriate text,” she said, noting that the school has more than 1,300 kids. “It’s a message that learning does not stop after 3pm.”

Luhtala also uses data strategically to make sure the messages about researching are hitting home. She uses an online version of the Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose (CRAAP) test to quickly evaluate all the high school students. She sets up a QR code that goes to the test, students fill it out on their phones in five to 10 minutes, and she has a complete record of what students understand well and what she needs to re-teach.

“If you set the expectations really high it’s amazing what they can generate,” Luhtala said.

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As the Maker Movement starts to gain momentum, schools that are trying to find ways to foster the do-it-yourself environment can learn a few lessons from another nexus in the universe: public libraries.

Dale Dougherty, founding editor and publisher of Make Magazine — and the de facto leader of the Maker Movement — has a vision to create a network of libraries, museums, and schools with what he calls “makerspaces” that draw on common resources and experts in each community. Libraries and museums, he said, are easier places to incorporate makerspaces than schools, because they have more space flexibility and they’re trying to attract teens with their programs.

“Schools have already got the kids,” Dougherty noted wryly, at the recent American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Seattle. One day during the conference, dubbed Maker Monday, focused on the Maker Movement, which emphasizes learning by engaging in tech-related projects. Two packed sessions, one standing room only, were filled with librarians clearly fascinated by the potential of attracting teens (and even parents) to Maker activities in libraries.

Schools can learn from libraries that participated in the inaugural Maker Camps last summer. The librarians speaking at ALA proffered seven lessons that apply beyond libraries to schools and other potential makerspaces.

1) KNOW YOUR SPACE.

“Why are you here?” That was one of the most common questions asked of the staff at the Make Magazine booth at the ALA. The answer: one of the hardest things for people interested in making is finding an appropriate physical space, and libraries actually have that space.

But not every space is alike, or even appropriate. Carla Avitabile of the Novato branch of the Marin County Free Library in California found some projects just aren’t suitable in certain activity rooms. For example, she said, they couldn’t do a glow-in-the-dark candy project because of the potential mess caused by boiling sugar directly above carpet.

Travis Good, the co-founder of the Maker City Census, said he visited 68 makerspaces to develop his criteria for readiness. At the top of list for libraries? “Tolerance for noise,” along with the willingness to establish ongoing programs, have available Making tools (even items as simple as scissors), provide dedicated-use space, and availability of “dirty” space for woodworking or other messy projects. All are considerations for schools as well.

2) DO A PREVIEW RUN.

Amber Creger with Arlington Heights Memorial Library in Illinois discovered it was really important to try projects ahead of time, prior to diving in as a group. In one case, they were making a do-it-yourself cardboard pinball machine.

“Who knew the glue could burn,” she said. A trial run lets you work out the bugs before involving kids.

And that helps to ensure safety remains at the forefront, which Erin Downey Howerton, Children’s Manager at Wichita Public Library, said is a focus of their Maker activity: “I don’t think we actually set fire to anything.”

3) VERIFY SKILL LEVELS.

Marin County’s Avitabile had one surprise as her young makers dove into a project. “Only one in four in our team of kids knew how to use a screwdriver,” she said. Don’t assume students have even the necessary knowledge of basic skills. Plan for some instruction.

4) BE FLEXIBLE.

While Maker Camp provided descriptions for 30 projects in 30 days, libraries typically did one or two programs a week for a couple of hours each. And not every idea for a Maker project came from staff.

“I ask the teens what they want to do,” rather than dictating all projects, Avitabile said. That approach is very much in the spirit of making. And with teens who come to her with new ideas, she tells them, “You have to help me do it.” Creger added that her teens decide their monthly programs.

5) REACH OUT FOR HELP.

Not all the knowledge required for a successful making program comes in a kit or from staff. “Don’t be afraid to make friends” with those who are experts in areas in which you’re not, Creger advised. For one electricity project, she found an expert in Wichita who was willing to help.

In the case of libraries, that expertise can also come from educators. “We’re working on developing a better relationship with our schools,” Creger said, noting that her library wants to work with the schools that have robotics clubs to do joint maker activities.

Steve Teeri with Detroit Public Library partners with a local makerspace for a variety of different after-school projects, from bike repair to higher tech. “We learn from their mistakes,” he said. And kids learn because they have to go online to do research and figure out how to make what they want to make.

“It’s not a difficult thing to find volunteers who know stuff,” Avitabile said. “It’s surprising how many people want to share stuff for free.”

6. DOING BRINGS DOUBTERS ON BOARD.

While not all involved may appreciate — or even understand — the maker approach at the start, “I was surprised at how quickly the staff bought into it,” said Creger. Those who were unsure learned with the others as they took part in creating the projects.

Though the reaction from others can sometimes be skeptical or hesitant, try different approaches. “Making? We don’t know what to do. We make crafts,” Howerton said she was told at first. So she thought of crafts as a “gateway drug” for making, such as moving to a fabric project with embedded LED lights. Ultimately, Howerton said, “We have actually built our staff capacity on Maker Camp and what Make has done for us.”

7. IT’S THE EXPERIENCE, NOT THE OBJECT.

Avitabile allowed that it’s hard to share or take home some maker projects (such as large collaborative efforts), so Novato Library focuses more on the process than the product. “Kids just like to make stuff,” she said. “And they don’t have to leave with the stuff they make.”

“You’re opening doors and windows” through the process, said Creger. And the positive aspects of the program have, in part, spurred Arlington Heights to plan a DIY corner where kids can check out maker kits, in addition to using a 1,700 square foot space in the center of the library for maker activities. Similarly, Wichita Public Library is in the design phase for a makerspace that Howerton hopes is built. Detroit Public Library’s HYPE makerspace is nine months old.

Make’s Dougherty reminded the librarian audience that the Maker Movement, while also tied to schools because of its connection with STEM initiatives, is naturally aligned with them. “Like libraries, we’re at the intersection of information and experience.” And ultimately, he said, making is about learning — and creating evidence of that learning.

“It’s not just about getting 3D printers into libraries. It’s about getting the process of making into libraries,” Dougherty said. “Though the 3D printers are pretty cool.”

Frank Catalano is a consultant, author and veteran analyst of digital education and consumer technologies. He tweets @FrankCatalano, consults as Intrinsic Strategy, and writes a column for GeekWire for which he also sought out thetech at ALA. As a child, he used to frequent Radio Shack to find cool things to build that weren’t likely to accidentally catch on fire.

]]>https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/02/12/want-to-start-a-makerspace-at-school-tips-to-get-started/feed/8269427566329228_4d5377458b_z-620×410Beyond Texts and Tweets, Young People Still Love to Read Bookshttps://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/10/23/beyond-texts-and-tweets-young-people-still-love-to-read-books/
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By NPR Staff

In what may come as a pleasant surprise to people who fear the Facebook generation has given up on reading — or, at least, reading anything longer than 140 characters — a new report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project reveals the prominent role of books, libraries and technology in the lives of young readers, ages 16 to 29. Kathryn Zickuhr, the study’s main author, joins NPR’s David Greene to discuss the results.

ON THE READING HABITS OF YOUNG AMERICANS

“We found that about 8 in 10 Americans under the age of 30 have read a book in the past year. And that’s compared to about 7 in 10 adults in general, American adults. So, they’re reading — they’re more likely to read, and they’re also a little more likely to be using their library.”

ON THE USE OF E-BOOKS AMONG YOUNG READERS

“We heard from e-book readers in general [that] they don’t want e-books to replace print books. They see them as part of the same general ecosystem; e-books supplement their general reading habits. And we heard from a lot of younger e-book readers about how e-books just fit into their lives — how they can read when they’re waiting in line for class, or waiting in line for lunch. One reader in particular told us that when he has a book that he loves, he wants to be able to access it in any format. So with the Harry Potter series and the [Song of Ice and Fire] series, he’s actually bought all of those books as print books and as e-books, just because they matter that much to him …

“We haven’t seen for younger readers that e-books are massively replacing print books. That might happen in the future, but right now we’re just seeing them sort of as a more convenient supplement.”

ON THE CHANGING ROLE OF LIBRARIES FOR YOUNG READERS

“We found that [younger people are] very interested in the idea of preloaded e-readers — being able to check out an e-reader at a library that already has some popular titles on it. And a lot of libraries are really looking at how they can engage with this younger age group, especially with Americans in their teens and early 20s. And so a lot of libraries are looking at ways to sort of give them their own space in the libraries, have activities just for them. Some libraries even have diner-style booths for the teens where they can just socialize and hang out, and so that they can think of the library as a space of their own.”

]]>https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/10/23/beyond-texts-and-tweets-young-people-still-love-to-read-books/feed/5By NPR Staff In what may come as a pleasant surprise to people who fear the Facebook generation has given up on reading — or, at least, reading anything longer than 140 characters — a new report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Lif...By NPR Staff In what may come as a pleasant surprise to people who fear the Facebook generation has given up on reading — or, at least, reading anything longer than 140 characters — a new report from the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project reveals the prominent role of books, libraries … Continue reading Beyond Texts and Tweets, Young People Still Love to Read Books →libraries – MindShift24494